Kelvedon Hatch Secret Nuclear Bunker
Encyclopedia
The Secret Nuclear Bunker at Kelvedon Hatch
, in the Borough of Brentwood in the English
county of Essex, is a large underground bunker maintained during the cold war
as a potential regional government headquarters. Since being decommissioned in 1992, the bunker has been open to the public as a tourist attraction, with a museum focusing on its cold war history.
air defence project. Upon the demise of the ROTOR SOC the remaining Nuclear Reporting Cell and UKWMO elements were incorporated into a Home office 'Regional Seat of Government' or RSG. The bunker was able to hold various numbers (in the hundreds) of military and civilian personnel, the numbers changing over the years as the role of the building changed from SOC to RSG and in its later years; 'Regional Government Head Quarters' or RGHQ. In the event of a nuclear strike the RSG / RGHQs etc. would be tasked to organise the survival of the population and continue government operations. It was built to provide nuclear protection for nearby MOD workers. The area they chose had to be off the main road behind fields and forests to prevent civilians from finding it.
. ROTOR was a programme to improve and harden Britain's air defence network. The bunker was a hardened ( three level 'R4') Sector Operations Center (SOC) for RAF Fighter Command. It was to provide command and control of the London Sector of Fighter Command. During the 1960s, 70s, 80s and early into the 1990s the UK government (Home Office) maintained the bunker as an [emergency] regional government defence site. Eventually in the early 1990s when nuclear threat was seen as diminished, the bunker was sold back to the family who had owned the land in the 1950s. It is now a Cold War museum and retains many of its original ROTOR and RSG/RGHQ features.
The bunker is built 125 feet (38 m) underground and the entrance is through an ordinary looking 'bungalow' (a standard ROTOR 'Guard House') set amongst trees. The inside of the bungalow leads to a 100 yards (91 m) tunnel entering the R4 at its lowest floor (of three). Above are two more floors, the 'hill' which covers it, and a radio mast.
The bunker was able to accommodate some hundreds of personnel (the numbers changing as function and form varied over the years) and could sustain them for up to three months. The bunker has air conditioning and heating (using the original ROTOR AC-Plant but replacing the original coolant with a more 'modern' type [c.1980s]), its own water supply (mains water and its own deep bore hole) and generators, and was equipped with many types of radio equipment, protected (EMP) telecommunications, teleprinter (MSX) networks and various military systems (MOULD and CONRAD etc.) etc.
TV show Top Gear featured the signs .
The bunker was used as a "Killer's Location" for The Murder Game
. Both the living quarters and the operational zone were set up for the "Killer's Game" in the finale.
In 2010 the Independent British post apocalyptic/horror film S.N.U.B! was filmed in the bunker.
Kelvedon Hatch
Kelvedon Hatch is a village and civil parish in the Borough of Brentwood in south Essex, England. It is situated just north of Pilgrims Hatch, approximately to the north of Brentwood and is surrounded by Metropolitan Green Belt. The village today is no longer a rural backwater with a large...
, in the Borough of Brentwood in the English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
county of Essex, is a large underground bunker maintained during the cold war
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
as a potential regional government headquarters. Since being decommissioned in 1992, the bunker has been open to the public as a tourist attraction, with a museum focusing on its cold war history.
Building and intended purpose
The bunker was first built as an air defence station (an 'R4' Sector Operations Control or SOC) as part of the RAF ROTORROTOR
ROTOR was a huge and elaborate air defence radar system built by the British Government in the early 1950s to counter possible attack by Soviet bombers...
air defence project. Upon the demise of the ROTOR SOC the remaining Nuclear Reporting Cell and UKWMO elements were incorporated into a Home office 'Regional Seat of Government' or RSG. The bunker was able to hold various numbers (in the hundreds) of military and civilian personnel, the numbers changing over the years as the role of the building changed from SOC to RSG and in its later years; 'Regional Government Head Quarters' or RGHQ. In the event of a nuclear strike the RSG / RGHQs etc. would be tasked to organise the survival of the population and continue government operations. It was built to provide nuclear protection for nearby MOD workers. The area they chose had to be off the main road behind fields and forests to prevent civilians from finding it.
History
The Kelvedon Hatch bunker was built in 1952–53 as part of ROTORROTOR
ROTOR was a huge and elaborate air defence radar system built by the British Government in the early 1950s to counter possible attack by Soviet bombers...
. ROTOR was a programme to improve and harden Britain's air defence network. The bunker was a hardened ( three level 'R4') Sector Operations Center (SOC) for RAF Fighter Command. It was to provide command and control of the London Sector of Fighter Command. During the 1960s, 70s, 80s and early into the 1990s the UK government (Home Office) maintained the bunker as an [emergency] regional government defence site. Eventually in the early 1990s when nuclear threat was seen as diminished, the bunker was sold back to the family who had owned the land in the 1950s. It is now a Cold War museum and retains many of its original ROTOR and RSG/RGHQ features.
Inside the bunker
The bunker was able to accommodate some hundreds of personnel (the numbers changing as function and form varied over the years) and could sustain them for up to three months. The bunker has air conditioning and heating (using the original ROTOR AC-Plant but replacing the original coolant with a more 'modern' type [c.1980s]), its own water supply (mains water and its own deep bore hole) and generators, and was equipped with many types of radio equipment, protected (EMP) telecommunications, teleprinter (MSX) networks and various military systems (MOULD and CONRAD etc.) etc.
Modern times
By 1992 the bunker was no longer required, so was decommissioned and the land was sold back to the original owners. It has now been renovated and made into a museum and tourist attraction; many locals appreciate the irony of the many brown tourist signs, clearly directing people to the "Secret Nuclear Bunker" in the area. The BBCBBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
TV show Top Gear featured the signs .
The bunker was used as a "Killer's Location" for The Murder Game
The Murder Game (TV series)
The Murder Game was a British reality television series that aired on BBC One from March through May 2003. The show was based on the American FOX television show Murder in Small Town X. Though classified as a reality television series, it was more accurately a hybrid of reality TV, game show, and...
. Both the living quarters and the operational zone were set up for the "Killer's Game" in the finale.
In 2010 the Independent British post apocalyptic/horror film S.N.U.B! was filmed in the bunker.
See also
- Central Government War HeadquartersCentral Government War HeadquartersThe Central Government War Headquarters is a complex built underground as the United Kingdom's Emergency Government War Headquarters - the hub of the country's alternative seat of power outside London during a nuclear war or conflict with the Soviet Union...
- HawthornHawthorn, WiltshireHawthorn is the location of a number of defence related underground facilities in the vicinity of Corsham, Wiltshire. Specifically the Hawthorn site was the location of an above-ground bunker used for the planning of satellite communications support to the United Kingdom's armed forces worldwide. ...
- Civil Contingencies SecretariatCivil Contingencies SecretariatThe Civil Contingencies Secretariat, created in July 2001, is the department of the British Cabinet Office responsible for emergency planning in the UK. The role of the secretariat is to ensure the United Kingdom’s resilience against disruptive challenge, and to do this by working with others to...
- RAF Rudloe ManorRAF Rudloe ManorRAF Rudloe Manor, formerly RAF Box, was a Royal Air Force station located north-east of Bath, United Kingdom between the towns of Box and Corsham, in Wiltshire...
- Corsham Computer CentreCorsham Computer CentreCorsham Computer Centre is an underground British Ministry of Defence installation in Corsham, Wiltshire, built in the 1980s. According to the MoD, the centre "processes data in support of the Royal Navy"...
- Continuity of governmentContinuity of governmentContinuity of government is the principle of establishing defined procedures that allow a government to continue its essential operations in case of nuclear war or other catastrophic event....
- Hack Green Secret Nuclear BunkerHack Green Secret Nuclear BunkerThe Hack Green Secret Nuclear Bunker is a former government-owned nuclear bunker located at Hack Green, Cheshire, England.- History :The first military use of the area was in World War II, when a Starfish site was established at Hack Green...
- Wartime Broadcasting ServiceWartime Broadcasting ServiceThe Wartime Broadcasting Service was a service of the BBC that was intended to broadcast in the United Kingdom either after a nuclear attack or if conventional bombing destroyed regular BBC facilities in a conventional war ....
External links
- Kelvedon Hatch Secret Nuclear Bunker official website
- Subterranea Britannica: Kelvedon Hatch
- Subterranea of Great Britain: Kelvedon Hatch Secret Nuclear Bunker